The latest edition of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD is - no pun intended - a bit of a slow burn. 'Girl in the Flower Dress' resolves the 'Skye-as-a-mole' sub-plot - a bit of a tired trope to begin with and one that plays out, beat-for-beat, pretty much how you'd expect.

Skye's deception - she's (literally) in bed with rugged Rising Tide hacker Miles Lydon (Austin Nichols) - is exposed just as she's starting to fit in with the other SHIELD agents and, despite their mistrust following her reveal as a double-agent, Skye proves her worth to the team when the chips are down.

Sure, Ward (Brett Dalton) is still a little surly post-betrayal, but I'm putting money on those two smooching by the season finale.

Having Miles sell information for cash is also a rather convenient way to discredit not only him but also all objections to SHIELD's somewhat underhand tactics. It's all very 'white hats and black hats' and I'd welcome a less blinkered look at the murky morality exploited by Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team.

The remainder of 'Girl in the Flower Dress' is more successful though. In a callback to the pilot episode, sinister organisation Centipede rears its ugly head again, kidnapping a Hong Kong street magician with a fiery temper…

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Like episode three's Graviton, Scorch (Louis Ozawa Changchien) is a small-fish Marvel villain given a small-screen showcase - Agents of SHIELD was never going to get Tom Hiddleston to sign a weekly contract, so the approach they're taking makes the most sense and gives comic book newbies a grounding in the wider Marvel-verse.

It's in its third act that 'Girl in the Flower Dress' really kicks in, as our heroes stage a rescue attempt and events take a dark turn. Scorch embarks on a murderous rampage, leading to a grisly fate for Shannon Lucio's devious Debbie, and - in a neat reversal of the pilot - Coulson is backed against a wall and is forced to accelerate the Extremis effect.

Pre-credits, we also get a few nods to the show's season arc, which continues to bubble away in a satisfactory manner. Who is the mysterious prison inmate? Who is the Clairvoyant? And who's at the head of Centipede - an established Marvel villain? A new face? Tom Six?

Skye's arc is easily the weakest aspect of 'Girl in the Flower Dress' but there's a decent villain and a strong climax to help compensate. What's more, with the mole plot wrapped, there's now the opportunity to take Skye and the charming Chloe Bennet in another, more interesting direction.

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Parlance of SHIELD...
"Did it physically hurt to do that?" - Skye is not used to getting compliments from Ward.
"Ah crap - they gave him a name…" - give a man a cool superhero moniker and it'll go to his head.

Make Mine Marvel! - A nod to Steve Rogers / Captain America this week, plus the recurrence of Extremis and arrival of Scorch for comic aficionados.